Stam pleased with 'fantastic result' at Ewood

An injury time winner from George Evans handed Royals fans three points as an early Christmas present at Ewood Park this afternoon and Royals boss Jaap Stam was delighted with the win.

"It was a fantastic result," he said after the last gasp victory.

"We started the game well, earned ourselves time on the ball to play, maybe didn't make all the right decisions but we took the lead with that one goal from Dom.

"We wanted to keep possession, keep passing it and go for a second one. But instead, we got sloppy, lost the ball a little bit too quickly when we were high up the pitch and they grew in confidence.

"They got the ball forward into the box a lot...into their strikers, and with the physique they had up front, they could be dangerous with the headers they were winning or with the runners from midfield.

"They tried to work us with those strong players, getting crosses into the box and winning headers and they caused us problems - both their goals were from headers in fact.

"We are not the type of team who plays that sort of football, but we have to deal with it and defend those situations better. Because, in any game, if the opposition get the equaliser they get the momentum. And they did it twice!

"So it was important that we stayed calm, kept control, used the space we were getting and kept going forward. And we controlled the game a bit more in the second half.

"Of course we were very happy at the end with the goal Goerge scored. During the game, you want it to be a bit easier and there was a lot of tension on the touchline. But it was a great to get the win."

Reading go into Christmas sat in third place in the Championship table and with two tough but tantalising home game to look forward to - against Norwich City on Boxing Day and then Fulham as 2016 draws to a close.

"Hopefully Christmas gives us some presents as well!" Stam smiled. "It's nice to be up there and of course we want to stay up there as long as we can. But it's not going to be easy.

"We are not a team who think before the games that we are going to win every game. It's a tough league and we know we have to be at the full 100% to get results. But it's always nice to win away."